Pulmonary Stretch Receptors
| Overview |
|---|
- Pulmonary Stretch Receptors are a type of mechanoreceptor present in the bronchial smooth muscle which sense and respond to physical stretching of airways. Stretching and thus activation of the pulmonary stretch receptors results in their increased afferent output which appears to decrease the respiratory rate largely by increasing the length of expiration. The physiological significance of pulmonary stretch receptors in controlling respiration has been demonstrated in animals but their significance in adult humans is equivocal. We mention them here only for the sake of completeness.